The field of the invention is sensors.
Weather stations provide information that impact many areas of an individual""s life. Individuals may vary their play, work, and other activities based on a weather forecast. Therefore, it is advantageous that the weather stations base their forecasts on reliable data. To insure that data received from the weather station sensors are accurate most weather stations follow a regular maintenance program on their sensors.
In addition to television, radio, etc. organizations that own weather stations or have access to weather station data and broadcast weather information to consumers, there are many individuals and independent organizations that acquire weather stations or weather station components for their own use. Some of these individuals and independent organizations follow a regular sensor maintenance program recommended by the manufacturer whereas others are not quite as conscientious. They may only check their sensors sporadically, even though the information they receive from the weather sensors may have a significant impact on their productivity, income generation, etc. Therefore, a need exists for some mechanism that warns individuals when there is a potential error in the sensor data that they are basing their decisions on.
The present invention provides a warning system comprising: a weather measuring device that measures a current weather condition; a storage device that stores historical weather data; and a microprocessor that is programmed to receive the current weather data from the weather measuring device, compare the current weather data to the historical weather data, generate a warning signal if the current weather data varies from the historical weather data by at least a given amount indicative of a measurement malfunction, and send the warning signal to an individual.
The weather measuring device advantageously comprises one or more of a solar radiation sensor, a temperature sensor, an anemometer, an ultraviolet sensor and any other weather sensor or device that measures weather factors.
Preferably the storage device that stores historical weather data comprises a non-volatile memory.
In a preferred embodiment the storage device and microprocessor are disposed in an irrigation controller. Alternatively, the storage device and microprocessor may be disposed in a personal computer or in another suitable device.
The microprocessor may be located either local or distal to the weather measuring device(s). Furthermore, the microprocessor may receive the current weather data from the weather measuring device(s) via a communicative coupling that may either be a hardwire link or a wireless link.
As mentioned above, the microprocessor compares the current weather data to the historical weather data and generates a warning signal, if the current weather data differs from the historical weather data by a given amount. The amount may be a percentage, a number, a threshold or any other suitable term that designates a difference between the current weather data and the historical weather data. Furthermore, the given amount may vary with the different weather measuring devices.
The warning signal that is generated may be an audible alarm, a flashing display, microprocessor generated information with highlighted current weather measurements and historical weather measurements, and other warning methods.
In a preferred embodiment the microprocessor sends the warning signal to the weather measuring device operator. Alternatively, the warning may be sent to any individual that has an interest in the accuracy of the weather measuring device data. The warning may be sent to the individual via a telephone system, a radio system, a pager system or any other suitable communication system.
Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.